Media focus on the morals of a dozen National Rugby League players allegedly involved in group sex with a woman in 2002 reflects deeper societal problems regarding the perception of women in our society, says expert on media and sexuality Dr Lauren Rosewarne.

 “The focus of media in this case is that this sex act is an atrocious thing, but it has been framed within this antiquated idea over what sexual behaviour should be. What’s more disturbing is that this woman has become an anonymous person, a mysterious figure who is perceived as just this vessel to have sex with.”

“We saw a very similar thing happen at the Prahran Football Club recently where a stripper was hired to rev up players before a match, and again this seems quite disturbing to me that women are being used as an objectified figure to sexually stimulate men in their own company.”

In her book Sex in Public: Women, Outdoor Advertising and Public Policy, Dr Lauren Rosewarne says that these ideas of women being objectified are often used in advertising.

“In advertising there is a tendency to photograph women without heads and the focus is then on her body which is often unconnected to her identity. And just like the stripper in Prahan or the girl involved in the group sex scandal, we don’t know anything about these women because ultimately it seems that it doesn’t matter who they are”.